On Saturday, October 25th the Billings Symphony returns to the Alberta Bair Theater stage for the concert 75 Years of Music in One Night, a whirlwind tour of symphonic music in the Magic City and a tribute to these past 75 years.
This concert will feature a wide variety of genres, beginning with Glière’s Russian Sailors’ Dance which was first programmed in the inaugural 1951 concert. This piece was written for the ballet, The Red Poppy, which takes place at a seaport in China in the 1920s. After a short introduction, a folk song theme is introduced in the bass and treated to a series of increasingly energetic variations, building to a final big climax.
As we continue through the decades along with the more traditional symphonic music there is a mix of contemporary pieces, such as a medley Song of the 1960s featuring The Beatles and The Jackson 5. As well as widely popular pieces such as Bohemian Rhapsody—with a viola solo played by Billings Symphony Principal Viola, Samantha Inez.
On August 24, 1975, Queen started recording Bohemian Rhapsody for their A Night at the Opera album. Due to the complicated nature of the piece and the technology of the time, it took three weeks and five different studios to complete the track. Despite the effort, Queen’s record company, EMI, was reluctant to release the single saying it was too “weird” for radio.
Somehow the song “accidentally” played on London’s Capital Radio 14 times over a weekend, and the rest is history. Selling more than a million copies in a couple of months and still reigning as the third best-selling UK single of all time, it can truly be classified as iconic.
A little more near and dear to Billings, the orchestra will be playing the theme from Schindler’s List (1993) in honor of the Not in Our Town movement that started in Billings in the 1990s. After a series of hate crimes during the Jewish holy week of Hanukkah, the community came together in a show of support, which then became a national movement that’s still around today. This piece will also feature a violin solo played by Billings Symphony’s Concertmaster, Randy Tracy.
Along the tour, we will feature one more solo with tenor, Jacob Logan. He’ll be singing You’ll Be Back from Hamilton, one of two Broadway pieces that will be played. One of the most successful American musicals in history, Hamilton follows the life and times of founding father Alexander Hamilton.
The musical uses genres as an essential part of its storytelling. To represent the American main characters, he uses hip-hop and R&B styles. Alternatively, You’ll Be Back, performed by King George III of Egland, is styled after the English rock band, The Beatles, which is meant to reflect the character’s foreign nature.
This concert is a fast paced, multi-genre, extravaganza fit for both routine concert goers and those who have never been before. It will be a night of brilliant retrospective.
75 Years of Music in One Night is scheduled for Saturday, October 25, at the Alberta Bair Theater. The performance begins at 7:30PM, doors open at 6:30PM, Pre-Concert Cues begin at 6:40PM. To purchase tickets, call 406-256-6052 or visit www.billingssymphony.org.
